Missions 2015 - Testimony from Leonard Jones

The It’s A God Thing Team had an amazing worship time with Leonard Jones on Saturday (4/25/15) at Livingston Chapel United Methodist. Leonard and his wife Marie care for 18 children at their Casa Cielo Children’s Home in Honduras.  Leonard shared his testimony with us about where God brought him from and where God has him now.

He began his testimony telling about his very difficult home life as a child growing up. He left home as a teenager and later joined the Marines.  He was so angry with his past, he had difficulty dealing with military life and was on the verge of being dishonorably discharged. The day before the court martial, he was walking through town and a man came up to him and said “Go to hell”. He was shocked and approached the man. He yelled “Go to hell” again and then he explained that if Leonard didn’t know Jesus as his Lord and Savior, he was doomed to go to hell someday. The man began to share the plan of salvation with Leonard and gave him a plan of salvation track to take back with him. Leonard prayed to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  During the court martial, it was decided to give him one more chance.  Leonard went back to his platoon and was a completely changed person.  He began to share the love of Jesus with the others in his platoon.  When he got out, he returned to Texas and eventually married Marie.

He felt at some point that the Lord was calling him and Marie into full time ministry.  He told Marie that God was telling him to give away everything they owned (their 5 bedroom home, cars - absolutely everything) and move to Honduras and start an orphanage.  They did eventually do this and now they have 18 amazing children in their home. They don’t consider it an orphanage.  They feel that these children are their own children and love them just as much as their own three children.

This testimony touched me in so many ways.  To see someone who came from such a very hard home life as a child, rebellious as a teenager and young adult, to becoming a full time missionary for God in Honduras by giving away everything and taking these children into his home and caring and nurturing them is really hard to grasp.  We think we are giving to the Lord with our tithes and offerings, teaching Sunday School and going on short-term mission trips. Don’t get me wrong - when God calls us to do these things, we should do them with a thankful heart for all He has done for us and thank Him for giving us these ministries.  But how hard would it be for me to give away my house, savings, cars and absolutely everything I have to serve Him full time? This takes an incredible amount of trust in God and faith that He will take care of me. Jesus gave up His life for me so I can’t hold anything back.

I would like to ask for prayer for Leonard and Marie Jones as they care for these children. They have a challenging but wonderful mission field with these kids.  They need prayer for direction as they raise them up in the Lord, provide for them physically (food, clothes and health care) and also seeing to their education.  Can we be prayer warriors/rope holders (Paul when he was at Damascus) for this family?  Let’s commit to being a daily prayer warrior for this ministry.  If you would like more information on this ministry and also how you might be able to help support them financially, please go to http://www.casaderoc.org/www.casaderoc.org/Home.html  - Roc Ministry: Giving faith, hope and love to every child.

Mission Team 2015

It’s A God Thing Team 2015

June 2 – June 11

“It’s A God Thing” team travels to Honduras each year under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Larry “Bucket” Guthrie is our team leader.  Our team has one primary goal: to spread the Word of God to the uttermost parts of the world.

Our team this year is made up of an eye team, construction team and most importantly, an evangelism team. This year we will travel to a number of different locations to conduct eye clinics as well as evangelism. We will also travel to Casa Ciela Orphanage and work with Leonard and Marie Jones to conduct eye clinics there. 

Our construction team will be working on some projects at the Shalom Girls’ Dorm.

Below is the list of this year’s team:

Larry “Bucket” Guthrie  (team leader)

Barbara Foshee

Bill Coons

Jim Sims

Emilie Sims

Ken Peeples

Lynn Giedinghagen

Perry Dial

Jeff Wiggins

Kristi Wiggins

Pat Anderson

Laura Faull

April Burgess

Hugh Guffey

Mary Guffey

For our prayer warriors:

Matthew 28:19-20

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

We are asking urgent and daily prayer for the following from our amazing prayer warrior/rope holders:

• Pray that the eye team will be able to correct the vision of everyone who comes to the clinic with a vision problem and will be able to dispense eyeglasses to correct their near and/or far vision as close as possible.
• Pray that the construction team will be able to minister to those they will work with at Shalom Girl’s Dorm.
• Pray that the evangelism team will be able to share the love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to everyone who comes to the clinics and that many will get saved.
• Pray that those patients who don’t get saved will remember what was shared with them about how Jesus died on the cross for them and that they will, at a later time, ask Him into their hearts as their Lord and Savior.
• Pray that those who get saved will then go out and share the love of Jesus with others in their family and community and that many others will get saved.
• Pray for the safety of the team.
•  Pray that the team will come home with a renewed vision of what God wants to do in each of our lives both in serving Him in missions here at home or in foreign missions.

 

Mission Trip 2014 - Clinic at Pastor Mario's church in La Ceiba

Thursday and Friday

Today is our last clinic day. We were at Pastor Mario’s church in La Ceiba.  We had a great clinic day today.  We saw 52 patients and gave out 27 prescription glasses. The people were great and I hate to leave today.  I put my hands on Nana’s shoulders again this morning and she laughed because she knew I was putting the weight on her shoulders again about evangelism. We both laughed and she said she would do her best. I walked up to her later and she said that one more got saved – one more for Jesus.

Many of the people today seemed to have the worst vision problems that we have seen on this trip. We discussed the possible reasons why.  Pastor Mario said that the people won’t wear any sunglasses. We noticed that they rarely seem to wear the sunglasses we give to them. That is a major cause of cataracts and pterygium. Also genetics could play a part in it but I think it is mostly the environment and lack of knowledge of personal eye care. When Mary comes on the trip with us, she makes sure they know about personal eye care. We miss you Mary (you too, Guf)! 

We had a young boy who is 13 come to our clinic. He had 20/200 near vision and had difficulty reading the far vision chart. We had to dilate his eyes and then use the retinomax. We got him corrected to 20/40 with the eyeglasses we had available. He was very happy to be able to see so much better.  Later after we left the church as we were driving down the road, we saw one of our patients walking down the road. He had on his new glasses and had a big smile on his face. It is these kinds of responses that make this so incredibly rewarding.

Yesterday we went to the bodega (our small warehouse) at the girl’s dorm at Cruzadas. We had a work day where we swapped out the old cardboard trays with the new plastic trays in our inventory trailer. We also replenished the inventory. Finally we went to the girl’s dorm and tested all the girl’s vision. Everyone’s vision was very good so we didn’t need to give out any prescription glasses. Tomorrow will be a brief work day again at the bodega and then a day of rest. We will be flying home on Sunday. This will be bitter sweet as it is every year. I want to be back home with family and friends but I always leave a part of my heart here.

Summary of totals:

Total number of patients: 581

Total number of prescription glasses: 242

Total number saved: 15

Es una cosa de Dios! It’s a God Thing

 

Bucket, our team leader, with a couple of the children

Pastor Mario and some of the youth who helped us today with their new sunglasses

 

Mission Trip 2014 - Clinic at Diamante

Wednesday

Today we had a clinic at the church in Diamante. This is Florence’s (Nana’s) church. She and her husband were the pastors here many years ago. The people here were so sweet and helpful and the day went great. I laid my hands on Nana’s shoulders this morning and told her that I wanted to see someone saved today so that meant the weight was on her shoulders. We both laughed about it but I told her that I didn’t want our primary reason for being here to be in vain. We haven’t seen anyone come to know the Lord the last two days so we had to do something different. She said she would take this on. She shared with them, prayed with them and praised with them. By the end of the day, two more came to know the Lord as their personal Savior. One more for Jesus!!!

We connected with a little girl named Cindy that came to our medical clinic last year. She was very malnourished to the point of dying. The medical team worked with her and then Evelyn got her to a hospital. She is now living at an orphanage and is doing awesome. Her hair has grown back and she is actually walking now. They said that she would not survive. She is more than surviving – she is thriving. Another one of God’s precious miracles.

We saw a total of 59 patients today and gave out only 15 prescription glasses. I noticed that the visual acuity of the people in this town is much better than most areas we have worked in. We are not sure if it is the environment or something else. So far we have seen 517 patients and given out 215 prescription glasses and we have seen 14 come to know the Lord as their Savior. God has blessed us beyond belief with what He has brought across our path. By this time on our trip, we usually average seeing about 450+/-, but 517 people is awesome. I praise you God – thank you for this opportunity for us to be blessed.

One last note: today I received some not so good news from back home. Bucket told me to stop looking sad and get happy because I just made the enemy mad at me. Bucket and I talked this morning after prayer time at the clinic about how we got goose-bumps during prayer time because we felt the power of the Holy Spirit. I was claiming one more for Jesus and I knew something great was going to happen today and it did. He was telling me someone was going to get saved. So now instead of feeling pitiful about myself, I am praising God for what He did and is going to do – and I know He will take care of all my stuff back in Alabama too. The Sunday before we left for Honduras, I had asked that a music video be played during offertory. The song was “We Believe” and the pictures were last year’s mission trip. The video played great before the church service, but it wouldn’t play during the service so Brother Chris, our pastor, got up and started his sermon. He apologized later for the video not working. I told him that it was ok because it was an attack by the enemy because he doesn’t want anyone praying for our team but that was fine with me because that just meant that Brother Chris had more time to preach the Word of God. Well, I guess the enemy just lost that one!  he is losing this battle as well. In a devotion we used during Lay Renewal at our church, one of the devotions (Day 2) was “How can praise help us share the Gospel?” This was written by Erik Lutz. In it he said that praise is essentially the opposite of complaint. It requires us to take our eyes off our difficult situation and focus instead on the God who upholds us. Misery and self-pity cannot last in the light of who our God is and all the blessings He daily pours out on us. Paul later wrote the following to the Philippian believers: Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. Philippians 2:14

Es una cosa de Dios! It’s a God thing!

 

Mission Trip 2014 - Clinic at Rio Esteban

Tuesday

Today we had another eye clinic day at a village named Rio Esteban. It is a very remote village - so remote that we had to drive through (not cross on a bridge) two creeks to get to it.  We saw over 80 patients today and gave out 38 prescription eyeglasses. Our clinic was in another church and we saw many of the members of the church. We had only 7 team members today so it was tough trying to get everyone seen in the near vision station, far vision station and those who had to go through the retinomax station but God gave us the wisdom about how to plan and organize today's clinic and things went very smooth with only a couple of minor issues that we have discussed and we will have a better plan tomorrow. The thing that concerns us is we don't have an evangelism team with us so we have decided to try to spend some time praying with our patients as they go through the clinic tomorrow. 

We had a devotion the last two nights on the Great Commission and we have discussed the meaning of this. The verse is in Matthew 28:19-20. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age". This was one of the devotions that we used for our Lay Renewal Weekend at our church back home. In this command in Matthew we are supposed to do more than just witness to others and lead them to the Lord. We are also to make disciples of them. A disciple is one who will mentor and teach the one who got saved so that they, in turn, will go out and witness and disciple others. We are supposed to make more disciples who live in obedience to Christ. This devotion is on the www.answersingenesis.org web site and was written by Tim Chaffey. We discussed the fact that short term missionaries can't really disciple since we will not be here long enough. We talked about our two local interpreters who could be those disciples. Please pray that the ones who have been saved these last two weeks will have someone who will disciple them as they continue to grow in the Lord and then they will go out and witness and become disciples also.

Es una cosa de Dios! It's a God thing!

Mission Trip 2014 - 1st day of week 2 at Dr. Dodson's

Monday of week 2

Today we were in Belfate working at the church at Dr. Dodson’s. Dr. Dodson runs the School of Christ here at his home. He trains pastors and other leaders in the different churches how to be disciples for Christ. He puts them through an intense three week training. They stay in the dorm on his property one week at a time. They will stay for one week and go home for three weeks and then come back again for the second week of training and then later for the last week of training. He has a tremendous ministry here and he and his wife take this School of Christ to other countries in Central and South America. 

Today we saw 75 patients and dispensed 30 prescription glasses.  A number of the people who came to the clinic today attend his church here. Nana and Marlene, our local interpreters, helped us at our different stations and also shared the Word of God.  No one was saved today unfortunately.  Many of them were already saved.  I heard Bucket sharing the Word with a patient all the way on the other side of the church. He was getting so pumped up and excited for Jesus! Tuesday, Dr. Dodson will take us to another location to have another clinic. Dr. Dodson told us today that he has been so excited to see what our eye clinic has done for his people in this community and his church. Our team was here two years ago. He said that he has seen people who could not read a Bible before because of bad vision, finally take their Bibles and start reading. He said this has made a positive difference in his church and community and he can’t thank us enough for being willing to come here again. We feel that we are the ones who are blessed because of these people and how much they love and welcome us. Seeing people read their Bibles for the first time in a long time has happened over and over again at our many clinics in the past. That is such a joy and a blessing to us to see the look on their faces and the excitement in their voices as they read God’s Word. Serving Him here in Honduras is a blessing and an honor I can’t describe. I can only thank God for the opportunity to come here and serve Him in this way.

Please pray for the evangelism ministry. In past years, we have seen more people get saved. Evangelism is our primary goal. It is rare for us to not see anyone get saved during a clinic day. Last week, we encourntered many Catholics at Belaire for our four days of clinics. I took the time to work with Gloria for a while at her evangelism station. I loved that opportunity. The ladies that were with her said they were already saved but she shared God’s Word with them anyway. Please pray that we will be able to go out and save one more for Jesus this week.

Mission Trip 2014 - Day at Los Laurales

On Friday we went to Los Laurales which is the community around the dump. We had the opportunity to work the soup kitchen provided by the church at Cruzadas. They do the soup kitchen here every Tuesday and Friday. Another mission group does the soup kitchen on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. For some of these children, this will be the only food they may get all week.  Most of the children did not eat their food there, but rather took it home to share with their families.  These are the poorest of La Ceiba, surviving by wading through the refuse at the dump for whatever they can salvage to sell or trade.  Most have no hope of anything better.  They are born there and may never leave.  It is heartbreaking.  Please pray for the missions that provide the food and especially for these precious children.